How to Settle with Style
by ignitesthestars
Summary: And other love stories. 50 sentences on Alina and Nikolai.


**#01 - Ring**

Much to Nikolai's dismay, she never wears the emerald ring outside of formal occasions.

**#02 - Hero**

Alina is the only one who dares approach him on those nights, when he buries himself in his study and keeps the lights low.

**#03 - Memory**

She remembers the both of them being less broken, once, and thinks that they understand each other better now.

**#04 - Box**

Nikolai rubs his jaw and smirks at her, saying something about needing to take lessons if she's going to keep hitting him like this.

**#05 - Run**

Sometimes, the _tsaritsa_ just disappears; Nikolai doesn't know where she goes and he doesn't ask, but he always has an excuse for her at the ready.

**#06 - Hurricane**

He has a dramatic flair, yes, but he tries to leave the emotional storms to the other men in her life.

**#07 - Wings**

Alina's fingers trace the dark lines down his back, and around her, he doesn't suppress a shudder.

**#08 - Cold**

"It is a cold and unloving woman I married," Nikolai bemoans, as the woman in question shoots down his attempts at commissioning a giant statue of her.

**#09 - Red**

He smears a hand over his mouth, trying to wipe away stains that no one else can see, but his hand is just as tainted; Alina comes to him then, and wraps her fingers wordlessly around his.

**#10 - Drink**

He catches her drinking in the sight of him, and something warm and unfamiliar stirs in his chest - enough that he doesn't tease, at least, content to bask in her rare attention.

**#11 - Midnight**

"You should be sleeping," Nikolai murmurs, but doesn't stop her from picking up a sheaf of his paperwork.

**#12 - Temptation**

Part of what interests him so much about the girl is that she has so _little_ interest in becoming _tsaritsa_.

**#13 - View**

The first time he catches her stepping into the bath, he can't help himself; he wolf-whistles, and then looses a bark of laughter as she launches a bar of soap at him.

**#14 - Music**

"You're almost tone deaf, you know that?" he says, coming up behind her seat at the piano and reaching around to place her fingers correctly.

**#15 - Silk**

"If you say anything about having a clever tongue right now, I'm going to leave, and I won't come back," Alina pants, tangling her fingers in blonde hair and biting back a moan as his mouth moves over her shoulder.

**#16 - Cover**

It's a process of years, but Alina strips the lies from him one by one (tender in some ways, merciless in others), until she really can claim to know him better than he knows himself.

**#17 - Promise**

He breaks that one, the damp brush of her cheek on his letting him know she's still thinking of Mal when she finally allows him to kiss her properly.

**#18 - Dream**

"I never really had a dream," she admits softly, "so fulfilling yours is as good a place to start as any."

**#19 - Candle**

There's always at least one flickering in their bedchamber.

**#20 - Talent**

The thing is, he makes her laugh, when she thought her body had forgotten how.

**#21 - Silence**

For the amount of times Alina has wished Nikolai would she up, she finds that she can't stand it when he's quiet for too long.

**#22 - Journey**

Their love is a process, something that grows as they work on it, rather than exploding to life.

**#23 - Fire**

"The air-ships were one thing, but if you think I'm stepping into a basket held aloft by _flame_, you're insane!"

**#24 - Strength**

They keep going, and sometimes Nikolai thinks that of everything, that is their most impressive feat.

**#25 - Mask**

Alina has a mask of her own; Nikolai probably shouldn't enjoy worming his way under it so much.

**#26 - Ice**

"I've decided we're going skating," he says cheerfully, and pushes her out onto the frozen lake.

**#27 - Fall**

"Next time, remember _skates_," she gasps, scrabbling at his chest for purchase; they go down together in a tangle of limbs and laughter.

**#28 - Forgotten**

"His name was Aleksander," Alina murmurs one day, and Nikolai understands that she's given him a piece of herself that no one else has ever seen.

**#29 - Dance**

He does it a lot, grabbing her hand and tugging her into him, swaying to a soft, humming tune; Alina always protests, but she never stops him, enjoying the gentle press of their bodies, the closeness and the calm.

**#30 - Body**

"I wonder if this is sacrilege," he muses, and receives a sharp gasp of pleasure and a smack over the head for his trouble.

**#31 - Sacred**

"Is nothing sacred to you?" she sighs at him one day, and just rolls her eyes at his flip response (_of course not, I leave that sort of thing to you)._

**#32 - Farewells**

"Balls," he murmurs, gripping her hand tighter as she stands vigil at his bedside, "I was hoping I could last another week, I would have made a killing in the betting pool."

**#33 - World**

He's not her whole world, and she's not his; it's what makes them so well-suited.

**#34 - Formal**

"I want a divorce," Alina growls, as Genya laces her into something heavy and unforgiving, and her husband has the temerity to _laugh._

**#35 - Fever**

It's a slow burn, the love she feels for Nikolai; by the time she figures it out, it's already terminal.

**#36 - Laugh**

Alina wonders if he knows she considers it a victory every time she wins a _genuine_ laugh for him - not one of those mocking chuckles or self-deprecating sighs, but something loud and tugged up from somewhere deep in his gut.

**#37 - Lies**

"Be gentle with me," he says solemnly on their wedding night, "it's my first time."

**#38 - Forever**

He'd meant for them to be some stupid joke, but instead his last words to her are _I'm sorry_ as he slips away and leaves her to the unending centuries.

**#39 - Overwhelmed**

He doesn't even remember what it is he said that made _her_ kiss _him_ the for first time.

**#40 - Whisper**

There have always been whispers about him behind his back - except from Alina, who has never once hesitated to tell him exactly what she thinks.

**#41 - Wait**

What is the appropriate length of time to wait, Nikolai wonders, after one's prospective wife has stabbed two of her potential lovers in the heart.

**#42 - Talk**

Alina would never admit it, but having seen him lose his words completely, she'd listen to Nikolai talk until the end of the world.

**#43 - Search**

"He asked me because he was lazy, and didn't want to have to look for another bride," Alina informs their daughter (who, judging by the look of approval she gives her father, definitely throws to _his_ side).

**#44 - Hope**

It turns out, she was right; the marks do fade with time.

**#45 - Eclipse**

"It reminds me of you," she informs him, even though they both know it doesn't, "because it's nature's way of _showing off_."

**#46 - Gravity**

It was never inevitable, the way she is drawn back to him; that's what makes it so much sweeter.

**#47 - Highway**

There's no fast path to Alina's heart, Nikolai knows, but that's fine; he's always been patient.

**#48 - Unknown**

"I still don't know how I got myself into this," she mutters to him dryly, as they stand at the altar.

**#49 - Lock**

There is something cold and dead inside her, locked up out of the way; Nikolai works his way inside anyway, because of course he does.

**#50 - Breathe**

There is a moment, maybe two or three years into their marriage, where she finally looks at him and realises that she's forgotten how to breathe.


End file.
